


Colder Than Our Hearts

by RunWithWolves



Series: 25 Days of Sweetheart [16]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Feels, cuddling for warmth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 12:30:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12653574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunWithWolves/pseuds/RunWithWolves
Summary: With an unexpected mini-snowstorm and evil snowmen raging upstairs due one of Laf's toy's exploding, Laura is forced to seek refuge in the cellar of the manor where Carmilla is hiding from Vordenberg's anti-vampire agenda. Carmilla's not exactly pleased with being stuck with her ex for hours on end... especially her shivering human ex with nothing to protect her from the cold but a hideous bunny sweater.As the cellar gets colder, it's harder for Carmilla's heart to stay as frosty as she'd like it to.





	Colder Than Our Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> i apologize for the great injustice that i've never written a snuggling for warmth story before.  
> this is how we fix that.

Carmilla was jolted from semi-sleep by the an alteration in Laura’s heart from the room above - her steady thump thump rapidly transitioning to a quick sprint. Moments later, there was a bang of the trap door and Laura half tumbled down the stairs. As Carmilla blinked awake, Laura pulled herself back up to the top of the small stairs and slammed the latch closed. Her breath hung heavy in the dark, filling the small cellar under The Dean’s house with breath for the first time since the vampires had taken up residence there. 

“Laura?” Carmilla’s chest ached as she got to her feet, wound pulling despite the removal of the arrow that had pierced her chest only days before.

“Carm. You’re down here. Right. Hi.” Laura spun around, squinting in the dark of the cellar and clearly unable to see much of anything without vampire senses to help her. “Are Mattie and JP lurking in the dark down here too or did they go with Laf?”

Laura’s heart was still going a hundred miles a minute.

“The librarian went with the science nerd,” Carmilla said, “And Mattie’s off doing whatever it is she does. Said she couldn’t stand it down here a moment longer and would take her chances with Vordenberg for an evening free of this, and I quote, ‘dirt infested hovel’.”

“Gee,” Laura muttered, “I’m sorry I don’t have five star vampire hiding accommodations on hand.”

Carmilla sighed and leaned against the dirt wall, “What do you want? Why are you even down here?”

“Right. Yes,” Laura was nodding fiercely eyes roaming as she tried to figure out where Carmilla was exactly, “So we seem to have a bit of a problem upstairs and I deemed it best to come hang out here for a little bit until it passes. No big deal. Just, you know, we probably should wait until Laf comes back to fix it.”

Carmilla frowned, forcing her hearing to tune to anything other than Laura’s heart, she caught the faintest sound of humming coming from upstairs. A heavy breeze whooshing through the usually still air. She looked back at Laura, “What did you do?”

Even in the dark, she could see Laura’s pout, “I didn’t do anything. There was just a group of Vordenberg’s vampire brigade at the door again and they wanted to check the house again. Danny and Kirsch weren’t with them so I figured they’d be more thorough so I told them that they couldn’t come in right now because Laf was running an experiment and it would disrupt the process.”

“Is Laf running an experiment?”

Laura paused, “No. Not exactly. They’re over in the science building doing some kind of follow-up check-up on JP since the whole new body thing. But they’ve been working on this machine upstairs and I figured that if I could just get it to turn on, that would be enough to get Theo and his goons off our backs for a while.”

The wind upstairs seemed to be getting louder. 

“It blew up, didn’t it.” Carmilla deadpanned.

“No!” Laura’s nose scrunched and Carmilla forced her heart to harden against it, “It just, um, won’t turn off? So it’s kind of snowing inside and now there might be an army of abominable snowmen forming upstairs and even when you turn them back into snowflakes, they just reform.”

“Of course there is.”

Laura’s hands were flying, her eyes still unable to make out Carmilla in the dark, “So. Well. Um. I know that we’re all broken up and all and that you don’t owe me anything of course but there are a lot of snowmen up there and I was hoping that maybe you could find a way to, you know, destroy the machine? Because I tried hitting it with a bat but I don’t seem to be strong enough and the snowmen were getting really big.” Everything on her face was tugging on Carmilla’s heartstrings, urging her to do exactly what Laura wanted. So Carmilla took a deep breath and took a step back.

“Really?” Carmilla said, “You came down here to ask me for a favour? After everything.”

Laura crossed her arms, “Well sorry if I thought you might be invested in the place you’re literally hiding out in not being overrun by evil snowmen.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed,” Carmilla gestured around here, “I’m just fine down here. Not my problem.”

“Fine.” Laura threw her arms in the air and spun around, “I’ll just go back up there and handle it myself.” The effect was somewhat lost when she tripped over the staircase, unable to see it in the dark.

She hopped back up, pretending like she’d never fallen, and marched up the stairs with her trademarked Laura Hollis determination face. Throwing the latch, she shoved against the trap door.

It didn’t move. 

She shoved it again, the smack of her shoulder on unmoving wood resounded through the cellar. Gritting her teeth, Carmilla climbed the staircase, “Let me do it.” She very carefully didn’t touch Laura and shoved upwards against the door. 

It still didn’t move.

Unleashing her strength, she pounded upward on the trap door. She felt a sluggish rip in her chest as some of the stitches in her wound popped. Instead of flying open, her palms hit the ice cold iron straps and Carmilla realized that she could practically feel cold leaking from the wood. A more careful examination revealed that the wood was quickly turning into an ice block. Even if she felt like risky fire in the small room, the wood was too cold to even burn.

“So,” Laura said the obvious, “it might be frozen stuck.”

“You think?” Carmilla shot back.

Trapped in a dark cellar with her ex-girlfriend. Great. What could possibly go wrong.

#

They were sitting on opposite ends of the cellar and Carmilla could make out Laura huddled into herself, arms locked around her chest as she pulled her ridiculous bunny-covered cardigan just a little bit closer. Even if Carmilla hadn’t had the ability to see in the dark, she’d have been able to hear Laura’s teeth chatter. The light clicking still unable to drown out the beat of Laura’s heart that Carmilla couldn’t bring herself to ignore. 

A constant in her ears since the night Laura had fallen asleep pressed to the wood above the cellar. 

Little fool that she was. 

Carmilla would never admit that the thump thump of Laura’s heart was the only thing that could put her to sleep when the pain in her chest flared too high. She’d broken up with Laura, she wasn’t allowed to care if her tiny human heart was still beating. And yet. There was still comfort to hear that it was going strong beneath the chattering teeth.

Carmilla scowled, knowing Laura couldn’t see it, and whipped off her leather jacket, “Here.”

Unable to see in the dark, the jacket hit Laura right in the face. She floundered for a moment then emerged, “You could have warned me!”

“I’ll take it back if you don’t want it,” Carmilla said. 

Laura grumbled a reply but shrugged the jacket on. Zipping it up, she sunk into the coat and buried her nose in the neck. A moment later, Carmilla heard a soft mumble, “Thank you.”

“Just don’t want you shivering to death down here,” Carmilla said, “You’d be an inconvenience to clean up.”

The edges of the collar didn’t quite hide Laura’s smile.

#

There were icicles on the ceiling and Carmilla could see Laura’s breath in the air. The shivering had started up again as Laura hunched, knees to chest and arms pulled in tight. Carmilla consoled herself that the thump thump of Laura’s chest was still constant. No sign of lethargy in it’s beat. 

Still, being stuck with a silent Laura Hollis was disconcerting in and of itself. 

Twice Carmilla had seen Laura open her mouth only to close it again, peering into the darkness but never quite landing on Carmilla before Laura would shake her head and bury back into the jacket. 

When Laura did it the third time, it was Carmilla who finally spoke, “Just ask whatever’s clearly bothering you.”

“What?” Laura’s breath huffed out heavier in the air, “I didn’t want to ask-”

Carmilla rolled her eyes, “I can see you, remember? Just spit it out.”

“Right. Vampire powers.” Laura eye’s were still straining the darkness, landing somewhere just to Carmilla’s left, “It’s nothing.”

“Clearly,” Carmilla said, “It’s not. You’ve got me trapped down here. Isn’t that what you wanted? You can say anything your little heart desires and I can’t even get away.”

“That’s not what I wanted to ask,” Laura said. A faint blush in her cheeks that Carmilla was glad to see in the cold.

“Then what was it,” Carmilla challenged, “Just tell me.”

There was a pause and the only thing Carmilla could hear was the thump thump of Laura’s heart. Then, “I wanted to make sure you were still down here with me. I can’t see you.”

Oh.

Carmilla slumped against the wall, “Well, I’m still here. Don’t think I’ll be going anywhere for a while and I’m not just going to leave you down here.” Something clogged her throat at the words. As she stared at this girl that she just kept coming back for. “I’m a monster but not entirely heartless, you know.”

“I know.” Laura whispered. “I know.”

#

The moment there was even a sluggish misstep in Laura’s heartbeat, Carmilla jolted upright from where she’d been lightly napping to the beat of Laura’s heart. Laura’s teeth were still chattering, her hands rubbing her arms so Carmilla knew she was alive.

That didn’t stop a question from falling out, “How long do you think we’ve been down here?”

Laura’s head whipped over to her again but slower than it had before, still trying to find her in the dark, “I don’t know. A while.”

Carmilla didn’t like the slight slur in her voice. She liked the slur in her heart even less, “You haven’t turned into a human popsicle yet, have you?”

“Well,” Laura’s voice was trying to hard to be cheery, “I’m giving it my best shot. Probably more like a human slurpee at this stage. Perfect drink for a hot styrian day.” Carmilla watched her slowly bend her fingers and wince at the result before rubbing her hands together, breath still heavy in the air, “If I do go, don’t let Mattie use my eyeballs as martinis like she threatened? That’s sort of where I draw the line.”

“Laf’ll be here soon,” Carmilla promised like her hands weren’t clenched in fists at the very idea.

Laura’s laughed, head falling against the dirt wall and Carmilla’s eyes went wide as Laura’s eyes drifted shut, “Maybe. You know how they get about science though, Might be a little distracted. No idea where Perry is.”

“Don’t go to sleep,” Carmilla snapped.

Laura’s eyes popped opened as she struggled to sit up, “I know. I know. My Dad made me take survival training. Don’t fall asleep in the cold. But they don’t mention how tempting it is. Probably because they never actually made us practice freezing to death. Theoretical work only.” She squinted, this time to the right of Carmilla, “Does the cold hurt you?”

“Not usually,” Carmilla admitted, “My body’s able to thermoregulate all on it’s own. Biggest challenge is this chest wound, it’s taking a lot of my energy. I probably couldn’t handle being this cold for more than a few days.”

Worry flickered over Laura’s face and Carmilla’s chest ached, “You’re still hurt! Right. I just hoped you’d might of healed by- Well, if Laf doesn’t show up then I’m done anyway. If you don’t mind the slurpee ice vibe, you’re welcome to my blood when I’m done with it.”

Between Laura’s eyes flickering closed again and the slowness in her heartbeat, Carmilla couldn’t do it anymore. She sped across the cellar, hands finding Laura’s shoulders, “Don’t you dare die on me, Laura.”

Laura’s eye popped open and they met Carmilla’s gaze for the first time since she’d entered the cellar, wide. Confused. Slowly her hand came up and three fingertips landed on Carmilla’s face. One on her nose. Two on her cheeks. She blinked. “You said my name again.”

It was three tiny ice points on her face, Carmilla captured the hand and rubbed it between her own. “You’re freezing,” she said.

Amusement flickered over Laura’s face, “There are literally icicles in here, Carm? What did you think?” Carmilla just rubbed Laura’s hands a little harder.

She’s thought it wasn’t that cold. She’d thought she was over-exaggerating Laura’s slowing heartbeat. She’d thought she was still a better judge of what exactly humans could handle. Instead, she’d let Laura practically freeze to death across the room. 

Quickly, Carmilla unzipped the leather jacket. Slow hands tried to grab her, “I know we broke up but isn’t it a little much to try and kill me faster because-”

Her words died when Carmilla turned the jacket around and wrapped Laura up in it so that the back of the coat was pressed to Laura’s front. Then, with a deep breath, Carmilla slid in between Laura and the wall. She ignored the way Laura’s breath hitched as Carmilla’s legs pulled around her and bracketed Laura on both sides. She ignored the hitch in her own breath as she pulled Laura close in her arms, using her hands to keep rubbing life back into Laura’s fingers. 

For a few moments, everything was silent. Laura tense against her. Carmilla held the breath she didn’t need. 

Then Laura relaxed, falling against her so that their bodies were pressed tightly together. Sliding into grooves like they’d never been apart as the back of Laura’s head found the hollow of her neck. They sank into each other, Carmilla holding her close while Laura let herself fall into Carmilla. 

There was silence as Carmilla just focused on getting Laura’s fingers to move properly again, each thump of Laura’s heart reverberating through Carmilla.

“This has to be breaking some kind of break-up rule,” Laura mumbled eventually. That didn’t stop her from turning into Carmilla’s heat, “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about how much a pain in the butt you’ve been with the blood bags and the mess and the intentional annoyance.”

Carmilla kept rubbing Laura’s hands, careful to not linger too long, “Well, it’s not like I’ve forgotten about you accusing my sister and not listening and literally getting an evil vampire hunter in charge of the school.”

Laura was shivering in her arms and Carmilla couldn’t help but hold her a little tighter, “Doesn’t mean I want you dead.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you did.” Laura’s words were soft, “I got everything so wrong. I messed up. I keep messing everything up. I even. I even.” With a start, Carmilla realized that Laura was crying. Not big and loud but messy silent tears that froze on her cheeks before they had time to make it to her chin, “I got you shot. I got you shot, Carm. When Mattie dragged you in and I thought you were going to die and that was on me. That’s all my fault. It’s always all my fault. I’m the one who tried to stop the Dean and started this whole mess and that’s twice you’ve nearly died because of me and my stupid ideas and-”

Carmilla couldn’t do it. She couldn’t keep holding this girl, this girl she loved, at arms length.

Her words froze when Carmilla couldn’t help but touch her cheek, pulling Laura’s head towards her so that she was half turned in her arms and Carmilla could softly wipe the tears from her face, “You just wanted to help because that’s who you are. I knew that going into this. Don’t go beating yourself up over me.”

“You had an arrow in your chest, Carm!” Laura practically shouted, her frozen breath dusting over Carmilla’s face, “I had to hold you up because you couldn’t hold yourself up and I could literally feel you dying!”

She grabbed Laura’s hand and pressed it to her stitches, “And I’m going to be okay.”

“You’re literally bleeding right now!” Laura objected.

Carmilla covered the hand in her own, the cold fingers slipping between her own like they’d never left, “I’m going to be okay. I promise. I’ve survived far worse than this in my 300 years. Right now, I’m more worried about you. So let’s focus on not dying, okay cupcake?”

Cupcake.

The old nickname lingered in the air. 

Laura was staring at her, a hundred emotions that Carmilla couldn’t even catch crossing her face, “You asked me once,” Laura said at last, “if we could just forget it all for a moment. Just forget about mothers and monsters and saving the world and just be us. Forget break-ups and mistakes and everything.” Her cold fingers tightened in Carmilla’s own, “Can we, just for now, do that?”

“I think,” Carmilla swallowed back the fist-sized sob in her throat, “that maybe we can. Just for now.”

“Just for now.” Laura agreed. 

So when Carmilla shimmied to pull Laura’s shivering body just a little bit closer, she let Laura’s head fall into the curve of her neck. Cold nose pressing against her skin as small puffs of air tickled her skin. That scent of honey and chocolate settling something in her bonds as Laura cuddled into her, letting Carmilla hold her tight. She didn’t have to stop herself from pressing her cheek to the top of Laura’s head. She didn’t stop the fingers that crept under the edge of her collar to press a little tighter against her chest wound. 

So they sat in the dark, the thump thump of Laura’s heart pressed right against Carmilla’s chest so that she could feel every beat. 

Laura safe in her arms as they hid in the dark from the cold world around them. It was only because they were so close that she heard Laura’s whisper, “I miss you.”

Carmilla pressed a slow kiss to her forehead and pulled her a little closer as Laura’s tears froze like crystals on her neck.

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow, i thought these kind of stories were supposed to be fluffier? Hmmmmmm. Might have done something wrong? ;)
> 
> Wow oh wow cupcakes. This is story 91 and we are inching closer and closer to hitting 100 and the end of this series. I absolutely cannot believe I've been able to do this with the schedule I have. That is 100% thanks to your continued encouragement, kind words, [ tumblr flails ](http://ariabauer.tumblr.com/) and just general epicness. Thank you. Stay stupendous. Aria.


End file.
